Far-right French polemicist Eric Zemmour, 64, was fined 4,000 euros (CAN$5,800) on Thursday for racial slur after he called an ex-columnist’s first name, Hapsatou Sy, “insulting” in 2018.
The former presidential candidate, president of the Reconquest! movement, who was absent during the sentencing, was also ordered to pay 3,000 euros (C$4,300) in damages and 2,000 euros (C$2,900) in legal fees.
His lawyer, Me Olivier Pardo, announced that he would appeal “this decision, which has no legal significance”.
“It is a great satisfaction”, on the contrary, appreciated Me Antoine Vey, Ms Sy’s lawyer. “Behind Hapsatou Sy’s fight is probably the recognition of a whole section of the French population,” he added.
The statements in question were made during the public taping of a television program in September 2018 on the French channel C8.
The production company had shortened the excerpt during editing.
The former columnist for the Canal+ group shared a video filmed by a make-up artist with the shortened passage on social networks and filed a complaint.
In the sequence aired on C8, Hapsatou Sy remembers his first name to Eric Zemmour, who replies, “Your mother was wrong”. “And what should I be called?” replies the columnist. “Corinne,” replies the polemicist.
In a subsequent face-to-face conversation, which was cut during the edit, the ex-columnist declares: “What you just said is an insult to France”. “Mademoiselle, your first name is an insult to France,” replies Eric Zemmour.
Eric Zemmour, who was fined 3,000 euros (C$4,300 Canadian) in 2016 for provoking religious hatred, will be the subject of eight court hearings in Paris in 2023 after complaints were raised over his remarks.